The Pittsburgh Steelers offseason continues on and with the Super Bowl now behind us we too will continue on now with our breakdown of the free agents as we inch closer towards the start of free agency. Next up on the list of unrestricted free agents is veteran long snapper Greg Warren.

Player: Greg Warren

Position: Long Snapper

Experience: 8 Years

Free Agent Status: Unrestricted

2012 Salary Cap Hit: $925,000

2012 Season Breakdown: Warren played his eighth season for Steelers in 2012 and it was the final year of his two-year contract that he signed prior to the 2011 season. The Steelers once again brought in competition for Warren during training camp this past season in the form of Matt Katula, but he was released just prior to the start of the regular season.

2012 was not perfect for Warren as he and safety Ryan Mundy had assignment issues in the Week 6 game against the Tennessee Titans that led to a blocked punt up the middle and deep in the Steelers own end. The Titans scored just two plays later. Warren also had a bad snap on a missed 24 yard field goal attempt by kicker Shaun Suisham in the Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals that proved to be very costly being as the Steelers lost that game by 3 points.

Warren was credited with two special teams tackles in 2012 and had one missed tackle.

Free Agency Outlook: It is hard to guess whether or not Warren will return in 2013. The Steelers now have a new special teams coach in the form of Danny Smith, who had spent the last nine seasons with the Washington Redskins as their special teams coach. Warren doesn\’t have the best knees, but managed to make through a second straight season without having issues with them. Signing Warren to a one-year deal for $840,000 is an option, but not guaranteed to happen. The Steelers could decide to go younger and less expensive, but with that comes less experience. Even if Warren is re-signed, he will have competition once again in training camp. The Steelers will also likely add another long snapper to their offseason roster before even making a final decision on whether or not to bring back Warren. This is really a coin flip at this point and I am not leaning one way or another as to the ultimate outcome, so let\’s leave it at 50/50 chance that Warren will return for a ninth season.

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He’s cheap and has tons of experience, he’s worth the money….. but I do think they need to give Beachum some work at LS because he is apparently capable and has already worked there some at SMU and that would open up a roster spot if a backup OL can also be the Team long snapper, as opposed to designating a roster spot to a player that only plays LS

Mark Zeigler

Warren has been solid for the most part, any one remember the James Harrison snap?

steeltown

Agreed

Still would be nice to have Beachum work at LS in training camp and some in practice.. for that exact reason

Chris S

While LS can be an important position. For THAT much money they could have 2 players.

http://www.facebook.com/Wilkes420 Christopher Wilkes

Yeah, I agree. If we didn’t have problems with the salary cap it wouldn’t be a big deal, but these are the types of moves the Steelers are going to need to make.

Jefferson_St_Joe

I think you have to have a dedicated long snapper instead of relying on a position player like Beachum. The benefit is that the 3 man team of kicker, holder(punter), and snapper can practice with no disruption to the team. I also agree with the posts above that you have to look for a younger guy given the cap situation.

http://www.facebook.com/dutchess.hershberger Dutchess Hershberger

surely that money can be spent on a more valuable position, any player could learn to long snap

LucasY59

I think that would be the only reason Beachum would learn to LS so he can be a emergency backup, he can’t cover punts so I think they are better off with a normal snapper (just get one for 1/2 what they pay Warren)

Matt Lipner

From everything that I have heard from high school to NCAA players, long snapping is a difficult art to master, especially for punts. It requires enormous strength to launch the ball that far between your legs and then meet an oncoming rusher, and as we all know precision is absolutely expected. I would bet Warren is back in camp next year.

steeltown

People dont appreciate the importance of the position. We expect every snap to be perfect and any mistake is atrocious, I think $840,000 would be a small price to pay for that much experience at LS … Its the money a player like Colon is making for hardly contributing on a yearly basis that is the problem or it’s the $1.3million that will be paid to Sylvestor in tender amount for a player that hardly sees the field, except on ST (keep in mind we previously paid him around $490,000 per yr) or paying Justin King $715,000.. maybe I’m wrong about that one, maybe King has a great camp and makes the Team, who knows…. just thinking of the price of some of these players that do NOT contribute.

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